This article makes a deeply flawed assumption by including "outside" patents, that is to say, patents which were acquired (rather than developed/filed/patented by the company's own employees). Notice this tidbit disclaimer buried towards the end of the article:
"In Google's case, we get a clue. One of the company's largest super inventors lives out there, in the periphery, disconnected from other products. That inventor is Kia Silverbrook, who sold the company 269 granted patents on cameras and printers in 2013. Obviously patents that have been recently acquired, rather than developed in house, would lack the interconnections with other employees that centralize the largest bubbles."
This is not a clue. This is a sign that you're biasing your sample. Compare this statement to the premise of the study:
"Over the past 10 years Apple has produced 10,975 patents with a team of 5,232 inventors, and Google has produced 12,386 with a team of 8,888."
Wrong, not all of those people were even employees, see above. And what about the huge patent purchase Google made by buying Motorola and then selling it off (Arris, Lenovo) while keeping the vast majority of the patents. [0] Is it accurate to count Motorola’s patents as Google-developed innovations? Is it accurate to group Motorola inventors along with Google inventors?
"This seems to indicate a top-down, more centrally controlled system in Apple vs. potentially more independence and empowerment in Google."
I disagree, this really doesn’t indicate anything and mis-characterizes the inventors. Google and Apple have purchased a sizable number of patents whose inventors are not employees and not involved in Google's or Apple's R&D. If anything, this may indicate that Google purchased more outside patents than Apple. Some examples of Google's purchases beyond Motorola are IBM [1], Silverbrook [2], IP3 [3]. One of Apple's biggest set of outside patents is Nortel [4].
"Google, on the other hand, has a relatively flat organizational structure of many small teams filled with empowered individuals."
Not disputing this but the more obvious explanation is that Google has been working on a wider variety of products and services than Apple which would mean a greater variety of patentable subject matter by inventors working in different technologies. Don't use patents or that visualization as any indicator of R&D organizational structure.
"But that would take further sleuthing to confirm."
In the patent search community, it's pretty easy and quick to filter a search to only include company-invented patents (it's as quick as filtering down to a specific company, just compare latest assignee to original assignee). So why not do that here? This is such a simple search that I'm surprised that the data provider "Portland-based data visualization studio Periscopic" didn’t team up with any of the dozens of patent analytics providers [5] who probably would have done the work for free for some publicity, not to mention address the glaring flaw of including outside patents (that is, non-employees as inventors).
"Our intention behind PatentsView was to create interfaces that could inspire the public to explore patent data," says Periscopic cofounder Dino Citraro. [...] Indeed, Apple and Google may only be a start. You could probably write a book on the corporate organizational structures revealed in PatentsView."
I hope no one uses this tool to write a book. I think it's a noble goal to open up the data and visualization to the public, but users should be very wary of what they’re really looking at.
Most people try very hard, incredibly hard, to hide that they are lonely or don't have friends. Most people would rather admit they're depressed and get some quick pills rather than say "I'm lonely." Saying you're lonely broadcasts that you feel insufficient and unsafe. Because of that, it's much harder to ask for help and therapy, or even admit and accept that you're socially isolated.
I don't think this is a "forever" state as you put it, but I think this is why some people suffer for so long (some researchers call this chronic loneliness [0]), and turn to fantasizing friendships as a way to cope.
I want to believe there's a way out, I'm not certain, but I think therapy and mindfulness could help, and also being around secure/empathetic people. Loneliness is kicked around as the bastard child of psychology and most practitioners will disregard a lonely person as simply depressed.
But taken to an extreme, according to attachment theory, there is a class of people who naturally gravitate to social isolation yet, paradoxically, desire closeness -- they're called avoidant personality types [1]. There is early research (Bowlby, Ainsworth, lots to read online) that trace the development of this behavior to experiences as an infant. I think these types of people could get stuck in their ways through their 30s and 40s.
Psychologists have long theorized that when the need to belong is unmet, people start to pay more attention to the world around them. Imagine times when you were driving down the highway, feeling hungry, and you noticed every single food sign you drove by. Same with friendships and loneliness. When you feel left out, or feel unconnected, then you notice social cues. You become hyper-aware of yourself and of other people.
Yet this doesn't drive toward social interaction. That's why you see lonely people standing in the back of the party, watching everyone else. Gardner's research suggests that people struggle to "self correct" (as you phrase it) because of feelings of loneliness. [0] This doesn't sound intuitive, but here is the idea.
When nonlonely people are surveyed, they cite commonsense solutions to making friends: clubs, sports, coworkers, coffee dates with acquaintances.
But when lonely people are surveyed, you'll likely hear something researchers call fantasy findings. Instead of planned coffee dates or the monthly photography club, lonely people believe that friends are made in chance meetings, blind luck, unlikely encounters, chatting someone up on the domestic flight. Lonely people may be unable to think practically about social outcomes and devise effective social strategies.
The author says "The ratio of times I hear, 'We should hang out!' to actual hangouts is about 10 to 1." These kind of fantasy offers express feelings of connection that bypass the difficulties of forming real relationships. Lonely people are very good at relying on these when thinking about forming connections.
It's not that lonely people don't know how to meet other people, it's that they associate friendships with daydreams, conjuring up images of togetherness.
As angry as this video makes me, I'd point out that we've been making some progress in the fight against trolls. Yes, they're still a problem, but some things that have weakened them:
The Supreme Court's ruling in Alice v. CLS Bank, which dealt a fatal blow to a lot of software patents out there (especially the awful, vague and overly broad patents that trolls love so much). The Supreme Court reaffirmed that merely "adding a generic computer to perform generic computer functions" does not make an otherwise abstract idea patentable. [0] This ruling helps get rid of cases earlier. While it doesn't kill off patent litigation, it makes it easier for us to fight low-quality assertions. More importantly, this puts a tougher filter for prosecution of new patent applications, the vast majority of which are dumb and overly broad.
Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceedings, which are rather expensive (average $278,000) [1], but are much cheaper than litigation. Third parties can use IPRs to challenge patent claims (patentability) based on prior art patents and publications. In the case of Austin Meyer's patent defense, many of the patent claims were invalidated through this kind of proceeding, and petitioned by a consortium (Distinctive Developments, Ltd., Electronic Arts Inc., Gameloft S.E., Halfbrick Studios Pty Ltd., Laminar Research LLC, Mojang AB and Square Enix, Inc.). [2]
Heightened pleading standards. Before December 2015, it used to be that trolls could sue dozens of companies with cookie-cutter complaints, citing no real facts, and put on pressure for settlements by threatening lengthy and costly discovery proceedings. But thanks to decisions in Iqbal/Twombly, complaints must plead facts and recite aspects of the accused product that are alleged to infringe. This butchers the spam lawsuit tactic, and the day before this went into effect, trolls filed a one day record for new suits. [3] Shameful, yes, but it's helped clarify standards governing motions to dismiss.
Are you referring to Oracle's behavior? I would agree that while it's a glorious day, nonetheless the verdict is a chilling reminder of the abuse of IP.
I know this is limited to bankruptcy practice now. But I'd love to see this evolve, and maybe even two AI lawyers fighting in court, or a Judge Judy trained AI Judge.
But humor aside, getting to the next level of an AI lawyer would mean it would need to understand more than case law, taking into consideration facts of the case and evidence. It'd be great to have and apply for underrepresented defendants who can't afford to hire an attorney (and basically everyone on death row). Almost all defendants in capital cases cannot afford their own attorneys.
Upvoted, but I can't say I feel good about how the data became public (obviously not your doing!). What's done is done.
Otherwise, great article. I sorta wish you had more to work with to get better accuracy, especially for Texas, but also to compare urban vs rural geographies.
"In Google's case, we get a clue. One of the company's largest super inventors lives out there, in the periphery, disconnected from other products. That inventor is Kia Silverbrook, who sold the company 269 granted patents on cameras and printers in 2013. Obviously patents that have been recently acquired, rather than developed in house, would lack the interconnections with other employees that centralize the largest bubbles."
This is not a clue. This is a sign that you're biasing your sample. Compare this statement to the premise of the study:
"Over the past 10 years Apple has produced 10,975 patents with a team of 5,232 inventors, and Google has produced 12,386 with a team of 8,888."
Wrong, not all of those people were even employees, see above. And what about the huge patent purchase Google made by buying Motorola and then selling it off (Arris, Lenovo) while keeping the vast majority of the patents. [0] Is it accurate to count Motorola’s patents as Google-developed innovations? Is it accurate to group Motorola inventors along with Google inventors?
"This seems to indicate a top-down, more centrally controlled system in Apple vs. potentially more independence and empowerment in Google."
I disagree, this really doesn’t indicate anything and mis-characterizes the inventors. Google and Apple have purchased a sizable number of patents whose inventors are not employees and not involved in Google's or Apple's R&D. If anything, this may indicate that Google purchased more outside patents than Apple. Some examples of Google's purchases beyond Motorola are IBM [1], Silverbrook [2], IP3 [3]. One of Apple's biggest set of outside patents is Nortel [4].
"Google, on the other hand, has a relatively flat organizational structure of many small teams filled with empowered individuals."
Not disputing this but the more obvious explanation is that Google has been working on a wider variety of products and services than Apple which would mean a greater variety of patentable subject matter by inventors working in different technologies. Don't use patents or that visualization as any indicator of R&D organizational structure.
"But that would take further sleuthing to confirm."
In the patent search community, it's pretty easy and quick to filter a search to only include company-invented patents (it's as quick as filtering down to a specific company, just compare latest assignee to original assignee). So why not do that here? This is such a simple search that I'm surprised that the data provider "Portland-based data visualization studio Periscopic" didn’t team up with any of the dozens of patent analytics providers [5] who probably would have done the work for free for some publicity, not to mention address the glaring flaw of including outside patents (that is, non-employees as inventors).
"Our intention behind PatentsView was to create interfaces that could inspire the public to explore patent data," says Periscopic cofounder Dino Citraro. [...] Indeed, Apple and Google may only be a start. You could probably write a book on the corporate organizational structures revealed in PatentsView."
I hope no one uses this tool to write a book. I think it's a noble goal to open up the data and visualization to the public, but users should be very wary of what they’re really looking at.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Mobility [1] http://www.iam-media.com/blog/detail.aspx?g=54821371-e57d-47... [2] http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.seobythesea.com/2013... [3] http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/calling-all-patent-o... [4] http://www.reuters.com/article/rpx-rockstar-ip-idUSL1N0U713M... [5] https://www.piug.org/vendors